Pokémon Go Weather effects system benefits and boosts explained to help you get Cacnea and Lotad

Pokémon Go Weather effects add something new to consider when going out to look for Pokémon in the wild.

Whether it's raining, sunny or just plain cloudy, different Pokémon will appear based on your local weather, and give boosts to certain Types related to how it's looking outside - so expect Fire Types to be that little bit stronger when the sun is out.

Released alongside the December 2017 Gen 3 update, though we don't know the full extent of how weather changes every spawn, we have a good idea of the many benefits it will bring.

What are Pokémon Go Weather effects?

For the first time in the game, as well as your geographical surroundings (such as bodies of water) affecting the types of creatures that spawn, the local weather will change what creatures you see and how they behave.

Weather effects will impact the game in four ways:

New visual effects

Seeing different Pokémon Types spawn

Increasing the level (CP) of spawning creatures both in the wild and in Raids

Certain Types will be more effective in battle (by around 20%)

Increases to Stardust when catching certain Types by 25 percent

There are numerous weather effects. First indications show that it does make certain creatures become far more common - or rarer - and though there doesn't appear to be any weather exclusive spawns, long term it could have interesting dynamics on the game's meta based on creatures that are more popular based on climate, through to how powerful they are during certain seasons.

How to get Cacnea and Lotad

As mentioned above, though there no weather exclusive creatures (since that would put certain parts of the world at a disadvantage) some creatures have a far higher chance of spawning certain weather types.

Others suspected include Anorith and Lileep, both which seem to appear more often when Cloudy.

Everything else we know about Pokémon Go Weather effects

There's obviously a little more nuance to the above:

One of best hidden benefits is the power increase of creatures boosted by the weather - both in the wild and in Raids - by around 5 levels. What this means is their CP is already higher than usual, requiring fewer Candies to level them to the max, saving you resources, time and effort. Though it will be difficult to co-ordinate both the right weather with creatures you need, it's something to keep an eye on - especially if you're performing Raids.

If you're not sure which creatures are being boosted, searching your Pokémon list with 'weather' will narrow the list down for you.

The 'source' of the weather data is currently unknown, though the community largely believes it's AccuWeather - but that has yet to be confirmed. Regardless, don't expect it to be accurate. Our own experience suggests it to be anything put at times - with a day of snow failing to register at all. Hopefully we didn't miss out on any elusive Steel or Ice types...

Similarly, the app will give out Extreme Weather results quite frequently, with a user poll taken shortly after launch suggest as many as 40% of players have received one. While the alert is obviously useful to warn players, the game can disable creatures from spawning, which can frustrating if the weather isn't actually extreme.

It appears that Lure Modules are affected, based on anecdotal discussions, though they look to also spawn regular non-weather creatures too.

There doesn't appear to be any Pokémon exclusive to specific weather types so far.

Thanks to an interview with The Verge, is that creatures won't see status decreases as a result of the weather - such as fire types performing worse in the rain, meaning everything will perform no worse than it was before the new feature.